The lake was like a mirror on Saturday. The paddle wheel boat in the background is the SS Moyie – a recreation of a paddle steamer from Heritage Park that cruises the Glenmore Reservoir

Paula Newby Frasier who is probably the most famous Ironman champion in history – an 8-Time Ironman Triathlon World Champion once gave me this advice from a presentation I was at. Typically, first timer advice from experienced Ironman triathletes is to ‘remember to have fun’. Paula says that Ironman isn’t fun. It’s not supposed to be fun. It’s probably one of the hardest things you will ever do, and when things are hard, they’re not fun. That’s what makes it such a challenging event. I know this and agree 100%. I don’t have fun on race day. But I have the time of my life after I have crossed the finish line! Especially when I have successfully achieved a goal or two. In fact, the ‘fun’ lasts for a very, very long time.

The pain is temporary. The pride is forever.

I am afraid of next weekend. It’s going to be tough. Very tough. It’s worse for me, because I know what I am in for, as I have been through it a couple of times before. 24 hours of non-stop pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing. Ugh!

Winston Churchill said “When you are going through hell, keep going!”

But, I must say that 24 hours of lake-side scenery sure beats going around a quarter-mile race track 1800 times.

As I type this blog update, my chair keeps bobbing up and down. I just spent 7 hours on the lake today on top of 8 hours yesterday. The feeling of floating with the waves does not stop when you climb out of your boat. It was a bit of a challenge to maintain the 7 km per hour speed average that I need to break the 24 hour human powered boat record ( IHPVA). And I was only out there for 8 hours. My knees are slowly getting a bit better, my right knee is pain-free now, and I am hoping that my left will follow suit by next weekend.

WiTHiN was not designed for a 24 hour HPB record, it was designed for an ocean crossing. While she is not the best hull shape for a speed record, she is probably just fast enough for the 24. That is what will make this challenge so difficult. There is no room for any coasting.

That said, I promise you all that I will give it my best.

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Here are some photos of Fridays continuation of the Discovery Channel shoot. They rigged up these tiny lipstick cameras to various locations on WiTHiN for some really cool footage.

Al and Neil from Discovery hooking up the lipstick cams

This is a photo of the ‘mission control center’ on WiTHiN showing my new Garmin eTRex Venture Cx GPS and the SRM power meter.

The 2 AA batteries on the Garmin supposedly last for over 50 hours! I am timing the battery life now to see how long it will last with the back light on. We decided that it would be easier and more accurate to simply have me follow my route on the GPS than having to string a long line of buoys that would have to be marked with lights. I tested this out on the lake on Saturday, and it is pretty easy to follow a pre-set route on the Garmin. It would be great if the batteries last for the entire night. If the batteries don’t last, then I will look at installing a small LED light to illuminate the Garmin screen.

My buddy John Mackay helping out

The plan is to mark the turn-around buoys and any obstacles near my path with glow sticks. June 2 is a full moon, so regardless, I should be able to see across the lake.

Ben picked up some of this really slick Loc-Line modular hose for me. I’m going to clamp it on the side perimeter deck and then mount the GPS and my iPod video to the other end so I can swivel it around for easy viewing without having to hold them.